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Sunday, 26 March 2017

Despite the combination of Mother's Day lunch and four pints of real ale earlier today, I still found time to finish off my first Space Marine vehicles. Initially I was apprehensive about painting these up as tiny, weeny vehicles are about as far from my comfort zone as it is possible to go. But using the exact same technique as the infantry stands, the two models were quickly complete.

My method is very straight forwards. Undercoat in white, base coat in Sky Blue B from Foundry, wash over in black ink, drybrush back over with the basecolour and end with two successive highlights mixed with white. I used yellow as a spot colour here and there for the lights.

As of yet, I haven't added any symbols or markings on the vehicles as they don't seem as plain as the infantry models once complete. I probably will though soon, when the beer goggles and Sunday lunch has worn off a little more. A shaking hand is no use when working on such a small scale.

In addition, I have cleaned up some of my old school epic metal marines and built four support stands using the missile launcher models and two command stands. These await my attentions next time I have a moment or ten to myself.

The painting is a bit sloppy in places (no doubt my technique will improve as I knock out more vehicles) but they seem suitably eye catching from about two or three feet away. I hope that you like them! Of course, if you have any fine hints and tips for the painting of these epic scale vehicles, please do let me know!

Saturday, 25 March 2017

Hello all, with the change of season I have been very busy sorting out my home. With 400 year old walls covered in render to check, tiles to re-align and wattle and daub walling to patch up, I have been a busy boy indeed. What with the front, rear and kitchen gardens to tidy up and prepare for the warmer, brighter days too, the opportunity to Oldhammer has been restricted of late.

Thankfully, I have been busy collecting various epic scale pieces from the original Space Marine/Adeptus Titanicus game. Now, if you are anything like me and have spent some time pouring over the old photographic references for SM/AT published in places like White Dwarf, you will know that the original infantry depicted in early promotional material vary starkly from the famous plastic marines that came later.

Well, these are the very same models. If you look closely you can make out the standard marine (bolter in hand), the commander (bolt pistol and power sword) and the devestator (old school rocket launcher on shoulder). I have a fair few of these models now, thanks to in part to Graham Apperly who traded a couple of Fishmen for a smattering of these tiny fellows.

I was surprised to learn that some collectors and gamers seem to have missed these models. I was even told by several enthusiasts that they never saw release!! I have a number of these tiny marines bought in an infantry blister in Wonderworld in 1989. The were originally released for Adeptus Titanicus to, presumably, supplement the infantry rules produced in White Dwarf. With the development of the plastic marines, they were superceded by cheaper models, though you could still find them as extras in titan blisters.

There are a couple of other variants that I don't have yet. The heavy bolter and the running marine, so if you have any of these tiny chaps languishing in you collections please do let me know and I will happily buy/trade with you.

Saturday, 18 March 2017

He is a nice figure and drips that '80s warhammer character, so I cannot fathom why he never saw wider release. Until I saw this painted version I had no idea that the figure sported a manly beard!

Last post I brought you a unique insight to the Marauder version of the Bloodthirster, and to follow that up I can share this with you, the first fully painted version of the Nuln Spearman outside of the WD image from the 1980s. Now, if you are not aware of this particular figure's story let me enlighten you a little.

The Nuln Spearman was for a long time one of those mysteries for the early days of Warhammer. He appeared in White Dwarf 90 in an advert for a range of Citadel Fighters but never seems to have hit the shops. So scarce was he, some collectors and enthusiasts even doubted his existence and predicted that a copy would never be found, especially after the majority of Bryan Ansell's collection had been explored and Nulny didn't turn up.

Then in 2014 a casting of the miniature appeared on eBay (along with the similarly rare, Guard Captain) for a short while before vanishing in confusing circumstances. Many collectors inferred that the seller was approached with an offer he couldn't refuse and that was very much that. As you can imagine, this set the collecting world alight with discussion and the Spearman has appeared for sale several times since. Sadly, the winning bidders were usually the Citadel Collecting sort and squirrelled the model away in a cupboard somewhere instead of using the figure for gaming or display.

Not so with Javi Torrijo, who posted this painted version on Facebook last week. Seeing an opportunity not to be missed I asked if it would okay to share his work here on Realm of Chaos 80s - and as you can see, Javi agreed!

So big thanks to him.

Before I pop off again, I'll leave you with something I had never seen before until I spoke to Javi. The Nuln Spearman's rear end!! I wonder what he keeps in that pouch?

Sunday, 12 March 2017

Unless you have been living under a rock, you'll know all about the mysterious eBay seller named fsfminiatures and his spectacular collection. Over the last couple of months this individual has been slowly selling off a veritable wonderland of old lead, including a large number of extremely rare (ney, near mystical) vintage figures.

Nuln Spearman?

Check

Combat Card Dwarf Wizard?

Check

Though not really the remit of this blog, which is focussed on the collecting, painting and gaming of original released 1980s Citadel, I thought this worthy of record. We knew that Marauder produced a series of metal greater daemons and even have the serial numbers: MM95/1 Greater Daemon of Khorne and MM95/2 Greater Daemon of Tzeentch.

The Greater Daemon of Tzeentch produced by Marauder was a lesser well known model that turns up occasionally (I assume it saw a period of general release) and I have a couple of examples in my collection. Sodemons carries a painted example by ex-'Eavy Metal luminary, Steve Mussared.

But the Khorne daemon had remained a total mystery, at least to me. Sodemons carries no photograph of the model to this day and the eBay listing posted this week, may well be the first sight anyone has had of the model in the collecting world. And like the original released Citadel model, the daemon comes in multiple pieces.

In my opinion, the Marauder Greater daemons are just not as good as the Citadel originals, which (I assume) is why they never made it to wider release. Still, it is fascinating to finally get a glimpse of one of the more allusive models in the old school Warhammer pantheon. With bidding at £39.00 as the time of writing (with over 5 days still to go) it will be interesting to see how much this extremely rare model will fetch. With the Nuln Spearman and the Dwarf Wizard fetching 4 digit amounts it makes me wonder if the previously unknown model will reach the same dizzy heights!

Before I disappear back into the myriad whirls and eddies of the warp, I will also share this little delight, which proves that not all exciting, unreleased models need to be massive, multiple part affairs. Fsfminiatures has also just listed this lovely hamburger eating dwarf.

Here is the full site address for fsfminiatures if you are interested in watching this sale develop or fancy a flutter on one of the lots. And just so you know, I do NOT know the identity of the seller nor am I in contact with him or her in anyway. The purpose of this post is merely to comment on the appearance of a previously unknown model's appearance and to direct interested enthusiasts or collectors towards the eBay listings.

Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Forgive the sub par photography, but I managed to get a second set of stands completed last night and was keen to share my progress. Painting the entire shoulder pad really made the difference to the 'look' of the tiny models and I adapted my original idea slightly for the Ultramarines with a white background to a red 'U'. The Thousand Sons remain unchanged with just an increase in yellow.

Instead of repainting my first attempt at the models using my improved method, I decided to merely update the iconography and the difference, though noticeable will probably been acceptable to me when further units are completed.

Last time we spoke on the issue of painting marines I asked for some advice on how best to approach them. Many thanks to those of you who contributed ideas here, on Facebook and via email.It was very enjoyable working through the different suggestive methods and developing something that works for me. I will share with you the recipe for success I am currently using as I will no doubt forget sometime in the future and returning to this article will help jog the memory banks. There may even be one or two painters out there who may benefit from such a guide... so here goes.

Step 1: Undercoat the stand in white and then basecoat in chosen colour. For the Ultramarines I chose Foundry's Sky Blue A and for the Thousand Sons GW's Khorne Red.

Step 4: Add first layer of highlights to the model. I used Foundry's Sky Blue B to do this to the Ultras and GW's Mephiston Red for the Thousand Sons. Paint the boltgun with a dark silver metallic paint.

Step 5: Add an additional layer of highlights to the edges of the marines by mixing increasing amounts of Foundry's Boneyard C to the blue and Foundry's Yellow B to the red. Touch up the helmet, knees, hands and feet of the marines with the final layer of highlight. Paint a lighter shade of silver over the top of the boltgun.

Step 6: Paint the shoulder pads Boneyard C for the Ultras and Yellow A for the Sons. Highlight with white and yellow C respectively.

Looking back, I was having difficulty create the sense of depth on these models. Using black over the top of the original base colour allowed the contrast to develop properly and really helped me pick out the details. Frustratingly, after painting tiny tactical squad markings on all of the pads I found this article in an old WD.

The Space Marine (1989) rulebook just uses the White Scars illustration to explain the chapter markings and the reflective triangles made perfect symbols to represent tactical squads - so I painted them on all my marines. Know, I will use the Ultramarine red and yellow squares as it will add an additional layer of colour to my tiny warriors. Anyone know of the Thousand Sons had any additional fluff attributed to them back in the 1980s early 90s that I could add?

Please let me know if you have something in mind. Right, I am going back to the painting table to try and apply my new recipe to some vehicles.